The Cloud Cutter

Windswept

I scrambled back through the open window of the tower and down the slick spiral staircase, nearly falling down the stones in my rush. I skipped the last few steps and hit the ground hard, sending a jolt through my ankles and up my legs. I shook it off, squeezing through the tower opening and took off at a full sprint, my eyes to the sky.

The book had said something! There was a note, a letter pressed into the back cover itself, and it was addressed to me! It must have been from my grandfather. I knew at that moment it had to be, and it had been taken from me, by a bird.

I was in such a hurry I had barely had time to process what had happened. For a bird of prey to attack a person so brazenly was unheard of, and for what reason? What about the book had drawn the creature?

The hawk was still in sight, gliding over the wood roofs of the town, splitting through columns of chimney smoke, cutting a straight path towards the docks.

I ran hard into Ragstone. The town center was busier now as the morning had grown later, and the streets fuller. I pushed quickly past my fellow townsfolk, apologizing briefly as I slid sideways between strolling patrons, and leaped high over storefront baskets. I raced past the blacksmiths, then the mortuary, nearing the opposite end of the square. The bird dipped low, just above the buildings, then veered north towards the mouth of the Rest. I followed, slipping between two shops and heading down a narrow stone staircase on which I nearly lost my footing more than once. A woman exited a small doorway and shrieked as I squeezed past her, almost knocking a bushel of wildflowers out of her grasp. "Sorry!" I said, and kept on. I burst through into the bright sunlight on the other side of the alley.

Ahead of me was the Skyford walkway, a massive series of switch backing boardwalks that made up the bulk of the East Pier, and beyond it, the boat slips. Dockhands had finished unloading the lumber from the Broken Wing, and were now securing it to a rope elevator that would eventually lift the wood to Uptown far above us. Beside the Broken Wing the mysterious vessel with the sharp sails sat in a contrasting stillness. It seemed frozen, but alert, like a bird of prey primed to take flight.

I caught sight of the actual bird of prey as it circled the unknown ship, slowly descending towards the dark wood of the weather deck. Beneath the bird a man in a fur-lined coat stared up at the encircling hawk. The man was tall, with an unshaven face and long twisting hair. His skin was swarthy and tanned, and his shoulders square. He seemed, even at a distance, the picturesque definition of a hardened skyman. He was a falconer, a navigator, as my grandfather had been.

The falconer extended an arm, revealing a thick glove bound tight to his fist. The bird landed on his outstretched limb, slipping momentarily as it released my book and regained its grip. The man caught the book in the air and held it up to inspect it. He slipped the book in a satchel slung over his shoulder and retrieved from the same bag what looked to be a small dead field mouse. He tossed the mouse to the falcon, who snapped it out of the air easily.

I made my way down the boardwalk, towards the ship, and its layout began to become clearer. She did indeed only have six guns, two gun ports on the port deck, two on the starboard, and one at both the bow and stern. Smaller than typical cannons, they were smoothbore carronades, for use in short-range skirmishes. Three sharp sails extended out from the bowsprit, along with a fourth, oddly shaped run of canvas that resembled an inverted cone. The cone appeared to be a rain catch. This was made even clearer by the water troughs that ran on the outer edge of the weather deck beside the toe rail. The troughs dropped down inside the hull, undoubtedly to a cistern within. It was a rain collecting ship.

Beneath the bow a wooden figurehead of a familiar looking falcon spread its open wings. At the center of the ship, between two masts, was its envelope, a massive balloon held in place by a mesh of intertwined rope, and reinforced with thick animal skin. The ship was beautiful, and truly a sight to behold.